The core question addressed in the natural resource‐based view (NRBV) of the firm is how to develop and exploit resources beneficial for both the natural environment and firm performance. Due to the resource constraints and increased competition facing small manufacturing firms, achieving this is a challenge for such companies. Building on the NRBV and resource orchestration literatures, we examine the relationship between green purchasing capabilities (GPCs), CEO's environmental orientation(EO), and firm growth. Results from 304 Swedish small manufacturing firms indicate a significant relationship between GPC and growth, and this relationship is positively moderated by the EO of the CEO.

The core notion of the resource-based view (RBV) is that the possession of certain resources can result in superior performance and, in order for this performance to be sustained, these resources cannot be perfectly mobile. Whereas previous reviews have mainly focused on the relationship between resources and temporary performance, no studies have systematically analyzed the extent to which empirical RBV studies have specifically considered immobility of resources. By analyzing a sample of 218 empirical RBV studies, the authors found that 17% of the studies directly measured some dimension of immobility (by, for example, actually measuring the level of social complexity, unique history, tacitness or tradability). Fewer than 2% of the studies measured the outcome of resource immobility, i.e. sustained performance differences. Based on these results, this paper discusses the consequences of overlooking this key dimension of the RBV (i.e. immobility) and suggests that, and discusses how, future research should consider resource immobility to a greater extent.

This chapter focuses on financial resilience, which is an important aspect of the organizational resilience framework presented in Chap.  3. Financial resilience includes the balance between assets and debts and also resources like profitability, liquidity and ownership structure. The financial resilience of six of the largest Swedish companies is analyzed in the chapter. The selection includes companies with strong, average, and weak financial resilience, which enables us to contrast different companies to each other. The data is mainly collected from annual reports. The chapter concludes that it is necessary to have a profitable core operation to achieve strong financial resilience, but it is also important to have strong and long-term-oriented owners who retain a part of the profit in the companies as a buffer for more challenging times.

PurposeSeveral studies have highlighted the importance of management accounting practices such as formal short-term planning and formal long-term planning for SME performance. However, few studies have considered what actually explains differences in the use of formal planning (from a management accounting approach) in SMEs. Family ownership and EO are two plausible explanations for such differences. The aim of this study is therefore to examine how family ownership and EO are correlated to the use of formal short-term planning and formal long-term planning in SMEs.

Design/methodology/approachIn this study, we examined how family ownership and entrepreneurial orientation affect the use of formal planning by analyzing a sample of 156 Swedish manufacturing SMEs, using multivariate regression analysis.

FindingsAs could be expected, we were able to validate the notion that family firms use less formal planning than non-family firms. However, in contrast to some previous studies, we found that there is a strongly positive relationship between entrepreneurial orientation and the use of formal short-term planning and long-term planning.

Originality/valueWhereas many previous studies on family business have assumed that family firms use less formal planning than non-family firms, the present study is one of few to actually confirm this notion. Also, this study has provided strong evidence that EO is positively correlated to the use of formal planning, in the short term and in the longer term.